Pyeongchang games: Norwegian Olympics team orders 15,000 eggs by mistake

Officials were left in shell-shock by an egg-streme turn of events which left their culinary plans scrambled

An Olympic issue athlete-ready egg (Getty)

The chefs for the Norwegian Olympic team were left with egg on their faces after a grocery order got lost in translation.

Keeping a team of finely tuned athletes fed and happy throughout the rigours of the winter Olympics is no small task. Like all ambitious nations at the games, the Norwegians have enlisted a small team of elite chefs.

Veterans of numerous Olympics past, these chefs are leading experts in their fields and know exactly what type of nourishment is required to keep the Norwegian Olympians in peak physical condition, and they know the range of flavours that are needed to keep morale high.

They do not, however, speak, read or write Korean to any standard whatsoever. Having put their trust in the free translation service Google Translate, the chefs received an eggy surprise when one of their first big grocery orders arrived.

“We received half a truckload of eggs”, chef Ståle Johansen told Norwegian news agency NTB. The Norwegians had received a total of 15000 eggs, instead of the 1500 they had attempted to order.

Johansen, who is cooking for the Norwegians at the Olympics for the eighth time, had no trouble seeing the funny side of the mishap. “Fortunately we were able to return most of it”, he said. “But we were quite surprised when they came carrying the eggs. There was just no end to it. Incredible!”.

Cooking for the Norwegian athletes at the Winter Olympics is no small undertaking. “The biggest challenge is that we will be serving food almost round the clock. We have both skiers and biathlon here, so there will be food from half past seven in the morning and until almost two am at night. I know what they like and what they don't like”.

But if the Norway's Olympic ambitions are to bear fruit, they may have to find a more reliable method of translating their food orders.